Thursday, 30 June 2011

So I’m currently trawling through ‘The Right Way to Keep Chickens’ to the section on ‘Food’ for the 18th time this week. I am checking quantities as I’m fairly sure after 3 weeks with us our new ex-battery hens have almost doubled in size and I’m just checking that’s perfectly normal. They were my first ever pet and I didn’t have the first idea as to how to look after them. So the moment I had come up with the plan I instantly logged on and found a book that promised to tell me everything I needed to know about keeping chickens. Because that is what I do when I don’t know what to do – I reach for a book that does (don’t feel sad for me, sometimes I ask friends but in this case they were as clueless as I was – one friend thought an ex-battery hen meant it had once been powered by a battery - quite).

I own a lot of books that all aim to improve my writing (How to Write/How Not to Write/How to Write well/Nailing your Novel/Selling your Script etc, etc...) and have always religiously studied their pages knowing I am taking that step closer to publication. I have always placed my trust in manuals and guides. I was a good school girl, swatted up and got the A grades I was aiming for. But my writing books are a manual to help me achieve something specific and I have never really believed in a book that can tell you how to live your life. It seems this is not the case for others however as self-help books are everywhere. Recently we’ve been seeing a wave of celebrities walking around clutching these guides (Emma Watson was spotted clutching ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ and Lindsay Lohan was famously caught holding ‘Toxic Friends’ moments before she served time in prison). But are they suitable for normal people? Everyday common folk like us? As I said I don’t read them. Neither do any friends I have quizzed. My sister swore by Allen Carr’s ‘Easy way to Stop Smoking’ book but then started smoking again and my memories of reading ‘Men are from Mars Women are From Venus’ as a teenager seem to revolve around vague images of caves and elastic. I always found these books too simplistic. It is surely all just common-sense?

But is that really right? Surely it is good to be focused in this way? Perhaps Emma Watson, dazzled by her millions, fed up with the shallow world of celebrity, upset at all the distracting wads of cash (am I going too far?) needed a reminder of her priorities? And maybe Lindsay Lohan is now making less ‘Toxic’ friends (so no Britney Spears then... boom boom)? Bringing up children is an intimidating task and seems to be a very popular source of self help books and the ‘Mumsnet Rules’ appear to be hugely successful. So it can’t all be tosh. And I’m sitting here learning all about my chickens and thinking about other ways of getting my life in order.

So I am wondering if you can recommend any decent self-help books or whether you just want to tell me it’s all just a load of guff. Go!

I have to admit that I've never read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women - my god-mother's favourite book - and my only experience of this story is watching the film several years ago.

Josephine March's great-great-granddaughter, Lulu, is at her American mother's house in London with her two sisters and friend when she's asked to go up into the untidy attic and look for a collection of recipes written by her great-grandmother Cissie at some point in the 1920s.

Lulu is almost twenty-five and has no idea what she wants to do with her life, she's clever, but uninspired. Unlike her two sisters, Sophie, a beautiful up-and-coming actress and Emma, the organised one who's planning her wedding, Lulu's a little lost and realises that staying at her friend's flat on a casual basis and working at her part-time job isn't going to get her very far in life.

All three girls have grown up listening to their mother relating stories to them about their ancestor, Jo March. They mock her whenever she begins another tale about the family history and usually plead with her to stop. When Lulu goes up to the attic she discovers letters written by her great-great-grandmother and through these she not only discovers a few family secrets, she also learns about the hardships and closeness Jo and her family endured so many years previously. As the book progresses Lulu and her sisters begin to find that they have hidden depths and more to offer than they'd ever before imagined.

Even though I only had a vague idea about Little Women, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of this beautifully written book. Having two sisters of my own, I felt that Gabrielle Donnelly encompassed the different, sometimes complex relationships that sisters have with each other. The different hopes, aspirations and sense of duty and humour are cleverly intertwined within this story as each of the siblings learn that although they may be different they are closer than any friends can possibly ever be.

The Little Women Letters is published by Penguin and you can buy your copy here

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

In 1986, Henry is dealing with the recent death of his beloved wife and distant relationship with his son Marty. But on a walk past the Panama Hotel he sees a Japanese parasol opened and is transported back to his childhood in the 1940s during World War Two. As a child, Henry was the only Chinese boy in a school full of white faces and forged an enduring friendship with Keiko, a Japanese American also forced to endure the constant remarks from her schoolmates about being foreign, even though she doesn't speak a word of Japanese.

Life is confusing for Henry. At 12 years old, he has been sent to this particular school so he can “speak American” even though his parents don't speak English, banned from speaking Chinese entirely resulting in a very quite household and yet his father insists he wears a badge which says “I am Chinese” at all times. His father wants him to show national pride for China but to be American. To his father, a native Chinese man, the Japanese were and always will be the enemy – even if they come in the form of a 12 year old Japanese girl who was born in the USA.

Maybe I'm behind the times (it happens often) and you've all seen this website already. But just in case you haven't, I'd like to point you in the direction on The Book Cover Archive site, which is basically, well, an archive of book covers...

Best friends Emelie and Matthew ride to her rescue with an entirely new kind of list- The Single Girls To Do List. Rachel doesn’t know it, but it will take her on all kinds of wild adventures- and get her in some romantic pickles too. And then it won’t be a case of what but who she decides to tick off...

Mr Bendy yoga instructor

Mr teenage sweetheart in Toronto

Mr persistent ex

Mr deeply unsuitable

The Single Girls To-Do List gives Rachel the perfect heartbreak cure- and proves love is out there if you’re willing to take a chance.

I’m a massive fan of Lindsey Kelks’ books, and her I Heart series are some of my favourite chick lit novels out there. When I heard that The Single Girls To-Do List was due to be released this year, I was as giddy as a woman in a half price Topshop sale who has just been paid!

Initially I was curious as to how Lindsey Kelk was going to top her last three books with her first stand alone novel... I was not disappointed as she managed to create another loveable character in Rachel Summers, much like she did with Angela Clarke in the I Heart books.

Rachel has found herself in a situation which every woman can relate to- she’s just been dumped. Now we all know the drill when we’ve been dumped: load up the freezer with a tonne of Ben and Jerry’s, drown your sorrows with vodka/wine and slap on a rom com you know is going to make you bawl your eyes out. However, Rachel chooses not to follow this routine, instead her friends concoct a list for her. A list that contains some most interesting goals; travel to another country, get a tattoo, get a makeover, etc.

I write in what is the smallest room in the house. It also doubles up as my studio. After moving to the country from a small terraced house in the city, where my bedroom doubled up as my study/studio, I very much value this me space. Luckily, gone are the days of sleeping in a bedroom amidst oil paint fumes or finding a few pins and sewing needles in the bed!

Although my study is small, the window faces east, which means in the mornings it is bright and filled with light. It is a perfect morning writing space.

A writing space is so important, in my estimation, that the first homework I set my creative writing students is to find a writing space where they can work regularly. I always surprise them, saying that my space is quite bare and minimal – very few pictures etc. I intended my study to be empty, rather like a monk’s cell so, that I could easily get into the writing zone without any visual distractions – very hard for someone who initially trained as an artist!

Ah, I imagine this is hardly and original answer but I was always into writing. I was always writing stories and journal entries, I can remember a particularly epic story I worked on for much of thrid grade. I got into writing professionally about ten years ago when I jumped into the deep end of the pool and started writing my first novel. I wrote on weekends and after work and found that I believed in it as this thing I was really truly supposed to be doing, much more so than I had believed in anything else. I think I got very lucky with that novel as I got an agent fairly early on in my search and that book sold to Penguin, which is where I'm still published, five books later.

2. How did the idea for A Pugs Tale come about?

A Pug's Tale continues the story of Hope McNeill who was the protagonist in my novel Pug Hill. That novel ties up pretty neatly with a happy ending for Hope, but since Hope as a character, was always the type to be looking for something --Hope is a searcher, a yearner-- I'd wonder periodically what it was that Hope would be looking for next. Eventually I fell on the idea that Hope could be looking for a material object. I've always loved mysteries so I thought it might be a good time to write one.

3. What's a normal writing day like for you?

There's a lot of puttering around and clearing any other possible task off my desk. There's a lot me thinking, hmmm, not sure it's going to happen today, and then I usually get good work done in the afternoon. Worst comes to worst, I revise stuff I've already written. I'm a big reviser and a believer in whoever it was that said, I do my best writing with my delete key. Sometimes I think I do too.

4. Have you always been an animal person? How many pets do you have?

Always, always. I grew up in a house where we had at least four dogs at any given time (and guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, a rabbit and cats). I love animals. I think they're brilliant and fascinating and I could talk about / write about / spend time with them without end.

I’m sure there is a blurred line between fact and fiction in my novels. There are always elements of my books which are based on kernels of experience from my life, after all, the most famous bit of writing advice is ‘write what you know.’

I was telling one of my friends recently that I wasn’t going to attend one of my church marriage classes which dealt with the topic of sex and love. My fiancé had told me that he didn’t want to go that one, and I wasn’t about to go on my own seeing as the classes allowed for lots of time for discussions amongst the couples. ‘You can’t not go. Think of your books,’ my friend had said. At first I struggled to see what my books had to do with my impending marriage. So she spelt it out for me ‘Think of it as a future material for one of your books. You never know when one of your characters might have to go to a class like that.’

I hadn’t really thought about using my life as research before. Of course things that have happened to me in real life have appeared in my books. When I podcasted American Wedding I wrote a ‘fact or fiction’ blog to let the reader into what truths there were in my stories. But I was most definitely focused on using past experiences.

Friday, 24 June 2011

The winner of the fifth Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance was announced last night at a gala evening at the Café de Paris, in London. Judged from over 90 entries, the winning novel from the short list of six was declared to be:

Cesca: We arrived at the swanky Cafe de Paris (must pronounce in French accent or friends think less of you) off Piccadillly Circus and were ushered into the dimly lit ballroom which has been frequented in the past by the likes of Princess Margaret.

Amanda: Yeah I saw that on the site too – scared me into pulling out the maxi dress from the depths of my wardrobe.

Cesca: You're picturing the insides now aren't you? Yes. Fancy. Various well-dressed and go-getting people flitted about, supping at champagne and eating delicious canapés. The waiters must have been on double pay, or on double doses of something as they were ridiculously happy, dolling out treats and drinks and grinning like Cheshire Cats. We snatched up two glasses and hid in a corner. Sorry we snatched up two glasses and perused the room, considering our next move.

Amanda: Good save! Managed to spot the lovely Isobel from Hodder who has the brilliant job of being Editor to some of the greatest women's fiction out there! (Jealous? Me?) Nah! So after being happy that I had actually recognised somebody I was raring to go...

Cesca: I thought it was a great idea to go and introduce myself to Sue Mongredien AKA Lucy Diamond, one of the short-listed authors, whose picture I had stared at earlier that day in the hope of recognising her. After tapping her on the shoulder and asking the question the women looked bemused. Needless to say her name was NOT Lucy Diamond (she wasn't even called Lucy), had never written a book and was one of the guests of the sponsors National Express.

Amanda: She was very nice about it though wasn't she! :) Think you may have made her night!

Cesca: Fortunately everyone was descending the stairs and we were whisked along with the tide, eagerly scanning the room for more people we knew.

I reviewed Nicola Cornick's latest book last Thursday on Women's Fiction Thursday. Today, Nicola has kindly answered a few questions that I put to her about her books and her writing process.

1. For your latest book, Whisper of Scandal, which is set in the gossip-ridden world of Regency London, you travelled to the Arctic as part of your research for the character Lady Joanna Ware. Can you tell us a little about your trip and what you were able to glean from your visit?

The trip was the most fabulous experience! Although with the internet you can research just about any location from home these days I wanted to get a feel for the atmosphere of Spitsbergen because it was so unlike anywhere I’d been before. So we set sail on a small ship around the island and had some terrific adventures, hiking up glaciers, seeing polar bears close up in the wild and getting to talk to people about what it was like to live in such extreme conditions. I picked up lots of fascinating detail that I was able to put into the book and really got a feel for the place. Plus it was great to be able to research the history of Spitsbergen on the spot.

2. When writing historical novels, do you find it difficult to keep the sense of the era throughout the novel and how do you go about writing the characters’ voices as they spoke so differently then as opposed to how we speak now?

I enjoy creating a sense of time and place in my books, which I hope conveys strongly the era I’m writing in. I do this through all the little background details and the dialogue. But I am aware that I’m writing for a modern audience and so I adapt some of the aspects like language for a modern ear. I don’t write like Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer, for example, but I do try to make sure my characters sound authentic and that there are no anachronisms in the language or the setting.

For me a good book is all about characters and this latest effort by Milly Johnson has some very likeable characters. You WANT them to succeed, you WANT the happy ending.

The book centres on four friends who are turning 40. Friends since school they had once dreamed of their bright futures and glamorous lifestyles. Now twenty-five years on things haven’t quite panned out as expected. Ven has lost her house and her husband to a younger model, Roz is making an unhappy marriage even worse, Frankie has fallen out with Roz. Olive spends her entire time cleaning people’s houses or cleaning up after her good-for-nothing husband with his “bad back” and her equally lazy mother-in-law with her “bad legs”. The group has fractured.

When Ven wins a trip for four on a cruise ship it seems like a chance to escape their lives for a little while. We follow the girls through numerous destinations in Europe. They eat, they explore, they dance and... they eat. They attend formal dinners, meet fellow guests, hark back to some old memories, visit old friends. They sail on blue seas in glorious sunshine. But the cruise is sixteen days long and it has to end sometime. Or does it?

Happier Than She's Ever Been... is a follow on book to Men, Money and Chocolate, an autobiographical story of a woman who longs to be a writer but lacks the self-confidence to ever think it's possible. Maya eats too much and her relationships are pretty lousy, until she has a chance encounter that changes the way she thinks and looks at herself and Maya ends up becoming the published writer she has always longed to be.

In Happier Than She's Ever Been we find May happy, in love with Ben, the man of her dreams, and living with him above his bookshop. Every Tuesday and Thursday evening she holds special events for anyone who wants to attend and tries to make these evenings magical and welcoming hoping to give back something to others to make their lives a little bit more special.

Her past haunts her and May starts to fret that maybe it's not possible to have it all. She begins to worry that Ben will become bored of her and instead of talking to him about her fears, she keeps her worries to herself. Ben is aware that May is becoming distant, but doesn't like to broach the subject for fear of pushing her away.

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

We LOVED Ciara Geraghty's debut, SAVING GRACE (one of our highest rated books ever) and are super pleased that Ciara has answered some questions for us...

1. Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?

Things have changed since I started writing. I wrote Saving Grace mostly under cover of darkness, when my unsuspecting family were asleep in their beds. It was a very exciting time as I told no-one of the dangerous dreams I was harbouring.

When I got my second publishing deal, things changed dramatically. Now, I don’t get leave my house, hop on the train in a suit, put on some slap (Irish make-up) and talk to people in the office kitchen about ‘MadMen’ and ‘The Apprentice’ and ‘X Factor’ etc. Instead, I sit at my kitchen table in jeans and a teeshirt, often without brushing my hair, crank up my laptop and ‘make stuff up’ (that’s what my husband calls it). I do this at about half nine in the morning, after the school run. It took some getting used to. The worst bit was the fear that I would never be able to write / be creative at that ungodly hour. But I got used to it. And you know what? Half nine in the morning is not as bad as I had originally feared...I mean, yes, it’s bad, of course it is....but not as bad. I work until 1pm when I then pick my youngest daughter up. When there’s a deadline looming, I work at the library on Saturdays (there’s no way I could work in the house when the children are here; they’d never let me get away with it!!)

2. How does Ireland inspire your writing?

I have been inspired more by Irish writers than by Ireland herself. Irish writers are some of the most well-regarded in the world. They made me feel that perhaps I could do it too. They still do.

3. When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?

For Saving Grace, the character of Grace O’Brien arrived in my head, fully formed and rearing to go. She looks like a friend of mine and she has the spirit of someone who is very close to me.

For Becoming Scarlett, the main character – Scarlett O’Hara – was inspired by two women I have worked with in the past. Very meticulous, very focused, ambitious and in control. But of course I have never mentioned this fact to either of them because you just don’t know how people are going to react to that kind of news, do you? But while the concept of Scarlett the character lends itself to a couple of amazing women I know, I then take HUGE liberties with the character so the end result is not someone anyone would recognise from my life (I think).

Dara Flood is entirely a figment of my imagination but I got the idea for the story from a radio phone-in show I heard about 20 years ago, when I had no idea that I would be a writer. A woman rang in to say that her husband pulled up in front of the house in his truck. She asked him for help in shifting a flat-pack piece of furniture that had been delivered to the house that day. He told her he would park the lorry up the road and be back in a flash. He drove up the road and she never saw him again. The story stayed with me for years and years and I often thought about that man and wondered why he left and if he ever came back and what happened to the woman he left behind.

Dara is the daughter Mr. Flood left behind. The one he never saw. So I imagined her as being small and pale, vulnerable and worried. A little anxious about the world. Careful to avoid such things as expectations. Which ruled out things like disappointment and uncertainty and eventual, inevitable decline. So I suppose the bottom line with Dara is that I created her character to suit the story and she is not based on anyone I have met.

However, friends and family often say that they see bits and pieces of me in all of my main characters. Not sure how I feel about that...